


a wound of the heart

by esmeraldablazingsky



Category: Naruto
Genre: Feelings, Fluff, Hospitals, Poor Lee, Ramen, This got really out of hand, also lots of emotions and how do i tag, also temari is bossy i love her, author has regrets, can be read as shipping or not, everyone gets to be happy, friendship talks, okay i should stop with the tags, sand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 22:18:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10908576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esmeraldablazingsky/pseuds/esmeraldablazingsky
Summary: Gaara's childhood was severely lacking in love and affection. Basically the entirety of the Leaf Village steps in to change that.





	a wound of the heart

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how to tag any of this, whoops. Also this wasn't supposed to have so many words. Oh well, enjoy I guess?
> 
> also, ~~~ roughly denotes a change in POV.

There's a knock on the hospital door.

"Lee, you have a visitor," says the cheerful voice of the nurse, and the door swings open after a few moments. Lee sits up and turns towards the door, eager to see who's visiting- it could be Sakura, or Naruto, or maybe even Sasuke. But the first impression Lee gets of the person hiding behind the nurse is red hair and porcelain skin and pale blue-green eyes, and no, that is not who Lee was expecting. He scrambles backwards in the hospital bed, panic flooding his body as the nurse bows out of the room. A jolt of pain shoots up his arm as it bangs against the wall, and Lee bites back a groan. He can't let Gaara know he's still in pain, not when he's- he's-

He doesn't look like he's still a threat, actually. The longer Lee looks at Gaara, the more changes he notices between the day of the competition and now- the sand gourd is nowhere to be found, and the look on Gaara's face is very, very different. The homicidal, slightly unhinged glint in his eyes is gone, replaced by something vulnerable and hopeful and tired and a little scared. Not a threat. Lee relaxes and shifts his arm so it doesn't feel like it's splintering again every other second, and uses his other arm to wave Gaara into the room from where he's hovering awkwardly in the doorway.  
Gaara doesn't speak immediately, and Lee doesn't really expect him to make the first move anyway, so.

"Hi," says Lee. Not the smoothest of greetings, but Lee isn't at the top of his game, and he doesn't know what to feel about the boy standing in his hospital room. He's the one who put him there, after all. Gaara shifts. One of his hands is behind his back. He still doesn't speak.

"I," says Lee, "um... what are you doing here anyway?" At that, Gaara starts to look like he's considering bolting from the room at any moment, but he slowly removes his hand from behind his back. Lee braces himself for a weapon, or a threat, or anything but flowers, which is what he sees. Flowers. Well, not really normal flowers- what did Lee, expect from Gaara, anyway, certainly not anything normal- they're made of sand. Which is about as sweet a gesture as Lee could possibly have hoped for.  
There'd been a couple of seconds of silence, now, and that cornered look is back in Gaara's eyes, which keep flickering to the door and back to Lee.

"Are those for me?" asks Lee, holding out his hand.

"Yeah," says Gaara- his other hand is behind him now, but it looks more like a nervous gesture than anything, and Lee is kind of surprised. Gaara hadn't struck him as the nervous sort, really. Maybe it was just the heat of battle, which, speaking of...

"I'm sorry," says Gaara, so quietly it's barely audible in the shifting silence of the hospital room. "I didn't mean for it to go so far."

Lee's thought about it for a while now- what he would say to Gaara if he saw him again. Mostly it was an outpouring of anger and hurt and vengeful, painful words, but it all melts away in the face of the living, breathing person before him. It had been cathartic, to pour his frustration and his despair into one-armed push-ups and carefully selected speeches, but now, now that's not what he needs. The last thing Lee wants in his life is more pain, and that includes inflicting it on others.

"That's okay," he says instead of the festering, snarling response begging to be said. The shock on Gaara's face lets him know he's done the right thing.

"I hurt you," says Gaara like he's trying to get Lee to hurt him back. "Really badly."

"I'm coping," admits Lee. It's true- he's coping. He's coping pretty well, actually- there haven't been a lot of things in Lee's life that he couldn't solve through enough effort, so he's trying to tough this out like he has every other hardship he's faced, and it's working.

He takes the sand flowers and puts them on the bedside table, where iridescent grains sparkle in the sun. Sand- mundane, gritty, sometimes painful, but sometimes beautiful, too. Lee looks at Gaara and sees someone who is remarkably similar to that sand- cracked and raw and glittering with something new and magical that Lee can't wait to find.

"I should go," says Gaara, glancing at the door again. Some of the wariness in his expression has faded, and Lee gets a little spark of pride in his chest when he notices.  
"Okay," he says. "But come back." Gaara nods, and he leaves.

And he comes back, and he comes back again, and soon enough they develop a sort of routine. Gaara visits every other day, unless he or Lee has a bad day and doesn't feel like interacting, which happens a lot, but not as frequently as Lee had feared it would. Sometimes, though, Gaara has a bad day but still visits- he's quieter on those days, and his eyes go cold, but Lee tries his best to break his shell every time. It takes effort, but Lee has nothing else to give.

It goes well, for a while, but then Gaara doesn't visit for four days in a row, and Lee starts to worry. Guy tells him not to- it's the week before the final round of the Chunin Exams, and he's probably training.

The exams. Lee can't help the pang of hopelessness and envy that strikes him when he thinks about it. Naruto will get to fight Neji, Sasuke will get to fight Gaara, and Lee will be stuck in the hospital. He sighs, and Guy pats him on the shoulder.

"It's okay," he says. (It's not, not really.) "I'm sure Sasuke and Naruto would appreciate your cheering, though."

 

Lee ends up missing Naruto's fight with Neji, but when he arrives, the news is favorable- Naruto won, somehow. It's a bittersweet victory for Lee- he can't look forward to a match with the winner. Hell, he didn't even see the fight.

The second Sand Sibling forfeits his match, and then it's Shikamaru's turn. The match passes in a blur. It takes a while, but Lee can't bring himself to watch. He knows it's uncharacteristic, can feel Guy's worries gaze on his back, but he can't muster up the strength to cheer. Shikamaru, the genius- Naruto, the unlikely hero- and Lee, the "genius of effort," whose effort seems to have been wasted. He sighs and turns to Sakura, who looks worried. Lee has a pretty good idea why- Sasuke is still missing, but Lee is sure he'll turn up. He'd better, anyway.

 

He does. Sasuke appears in the arena 10 minutes after he's supposed to arrive, back to back with Kakashi in a swirl of leaves and wind. Even from the stands, Lee can see a confident gleam in his dark eyes. He isn't sure who to root for anymore- the outsider who ended his career as a ninja, or the prodigy of the Leaf Village. Objectively, the choice should be easy, but Lee isn't so sure anymore. Gaara is more of a friend to him than Sasuke ever was, which is sad to think about, but there it is.

Pathetic.

Lee waits, and watches, but it takes several minutes for Gaara to arrive on the arena floor, and Naruto and Shikamaru haven't made it back up to the stands yet, which is a little bit unsettling. Lee just hopes nothing terrible has happened between them.

He's too worried to pay much attention to the beginning of the match, but a little while in, Shikamaru and Naruto rush up the stairs, panting.

"Stop the match!" demands Naruto, skidding to a halt in front of Kakashi. Lee turns, listening intently. "This guy isn't like us," continues Naruto. "He lives to kill other people- Sasuke's in danger!" Kakashi just stands there in silence- there's a knowing glint in his one visible eye. He knows something, has seen something, that the others will never see coming. So Lee stays still, watching the battle and hoping beyond hope that everything turns out all right.

It doesn't, of course. It starts with the Chidori- Gaara in a shell of sand and Sasuke high on the arena wall, gathering lightning in his palms.  
It continues with a scream that sounds like it's being torn out of Gaara's throat and exposed to air for the first time, painful and chilling and raw.  
It ends with Sasuke pulling himself free of the sand, his eyes wide and shocked as an inhuman roar reverberates from inside Gaara's defenses. Lee limps up to the edge of the stands, leaning forwards and trying to see. He turns to search out Gaara's siblings among the other competitors- they stand frozen in the upper box, twin looks of horror on their faces. They, too, know something that everyone else is oblivious to. Lee turns his attention back to Gaara, who is still out of sight. There's an explosion somewhere in the distance, and the sound of blades clashing begins to slash the air, but Lee blocks them out- at least until the soft chiming of bells fills his ears and feathers obscure his vision. He manages to muster up enough energy to realize what's happening, but before he can do anything about it, he's unconscious.

 

Lee wakes up again a few minutes later to Guy bending over him, releasing the Genjutsu forcing him to sleep.

"Lee, you have to hide," he orders. Lee hoists himself up on his crutches, nodding at Guy even as he decides not to follow his orders. As soon as Guy turns away to resume fighting, Lee hobbles down the stairs and out of the arena through a back door, careful to keep out of sight. Goodness knows he's not in any condition to battle, which makes his next move even dumber in context. Lee uses one of his bandages to bind a broken tree branch to his leg just below his knee but above the break point, forming a makeshift peg leg so he can run. After a moment's hesitation, he keeps his crutch, too, slinging it over his back. It wouldn't do to get stuck in the wilderness, unable to walk.

He sets off in pursuit of Gaara. The terrain is rough and complicated, and it's all Lee can do to keep track of Gaara's trail- he's guided by instinct more than anything else at this point. If he concentrates hard enough he can hear Sasuke's footsteps up ahead, or so it seems.

But there's no option other than to keep running, so Lee runs. And he runs. And he runs until he skids into a battleground- Kankurō and Shino are making up for lost time in a circle of massive trees, and Lee dodges around their attacks and continues his quest. He can't be far now.

The twittering of a thousand birds can be heard from somewhere in the distance- not forest birds, but the sound of lightning in Sasuke's hands. Lee remembers the Chidori smashing a hole in Gaara's defenses and picks up the pace, willing both Sasuke and Gaara to stay alive until he gets there. Despite Lee's best efforts, his leg twinges and sparks with pain every time he takes a step, and the battle is moving farther and farther away.

"Gaara! Sasuke!" he yells desperately, his voice echoing and being swallowed by the trees. There's a slight pause in the sounds of the fight, broken by the ominous rumbling growl of something that doesn't sound human at all. Lee swallows hard and advances again, peering through the leaves above him to try and locate Sasuke and Gaara.

It doesn't take long before a tree shatters into splinters of wood nearby, nearly crushing Lee into the dust as it falls in pieces to the forest floor. He hears the thud of what sounds like Sasuke hitting a branch- they're fighting in the trees, and Lee grimaces as he tries to figure out how to climb with two limbs mostly out of commission. Before he can come to a conclusion, though, someone drops from the trees in front of him- Gaara's sister, Temari.

"You're the kid from the preliminaries, right?" she says immediately, glancing nervously behind her. "Lee?"

"Yeah," says Lee. He really hopes Temari doesn't attack him- her strength could easily overpower Lee's own, especially with his shattered arm and leg.

She doesn't even try. Instead, she picks Lee up and starts running, shushing his protests.

"It's not safe for you here," she snaps. "Gaara is getting closer and closer to becoming the Shukaku- if he beat you without the demon's help, you are beyond saving if he catches you now."

Lee elbows Temari in the throat, and she gasps and drops him.

"You idiot, what do you think you're doing?!" she snarls. "I'm trying to save your sorry life!"

"And I'm trying to save yours," replies Lee, struggling to his feet. "And Sasuke's, and Naruto's, and Sakura's, and maybe even Gaara's." Temari stares at him for a moment.

"It's absolute suicide trying to combat the Shukaku, even in its incomplete form," she says after a brief silence. "How in the world do you intend to do that?"

"You see, Gaara is pretty similar to Naruto," Lee points out. "And Naruto seems pretty stable to me. Do you know why?" Temari shrugs.

"Do you expect me to know?" she counters impatiently.

"Okay," says Lee. "Naruto has friends. People who care about him. How long has it been since you and Kankurō were nice to Gaara for a reason other than fear?" At that, Temari freezes, staring into nothing for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

"I don't remember," she admits. "You have a point." She pauses, then sighs again. "You're still going to die if you face him, though." Lee ignores her and starts limping back to the battle, only to get picked back up. Before he can protest or fight back, Temari pulls Lee's arm over her shoulder and launches them both up into the trees. They land on a branch just in time to see an exhausted Sasuke get slammed into a tree trunk, where he slips onto another branch and lies there, motionless. Lee turns to look at Gaara, and what he sees almost makes him fall out of the tree.

The creature that Sasuke had been fighting is recognizable as Gaara, but only from one direction. The right side of Gaara's face is completely obscured by the horrifying visage of what Lee assumes is the Shukaku- some sort of sand-colored beast with dark blue markings. Gaara's right arm is enveloped by the Shukaku's disproportionately large limb, which is probably what had smashed Sasuke into the tree. Lee glances over at Temari, who is staring at Gaara, her eyes shining with fear. She doesn't move, though, opting instead to keep her hand resting on Lee's shoulder, steadying him. Lee reminds himself to thank her later. The Shukaku starts to advance on Sasuke, and Lee starts to move, but before he can do anything, an orange blur rockets out of the canopy and slams into the Shukaku, knocking him away from Sasuke.

"Ha!" yells Naruto, landing in a tree between Gaara and Sasuke. Gaara picks himself up with a snarl, preparing to crush Naruto into the trees, but a third figure appears- Sakura throws herself in front of Naruto, and Gaara hesitates briefly before the Shukaku's arm slams Sakura into a gigantic tree trunk and-

She doesn't die. Lee breathes a sigh of relief as the arm pins her against the tree instead of snapping her like a toothpick. Temari turns to Lee with the ghost of a smile on her pale face.

"There might be something to that harebrained idea of yours," she says, "but you need to act before anyone dies and before the Perfect Possession takes place." Lee nods, bracing himself to jump.

"Good luck," mutters Temari, removing her hand from Lee's back. "You'll need it."

With that, Lee takes a leap of faith across the gap in the trees separating him from Gaara, Naruto, and Sasuke, just as the Shukaku rears back for another blow. Lee stumbles to a halt on another branch in front of Gaara, wincing as his leg spikes with pain. Gaara swivels to face him, his expression distorted with rage. Lee instinctively backs up, willing his leg not to give out under him, no matter how much it hurts.

"Are you afraid of me?" growls Gaara, his eyes flashing dangerously. Lee pauses, considers the question, and shrugs.

"Not really," he says at last, prompting the Shukaku's eye to dilate in shock. Lee lowers himself to his knees and offers his hands to Gaara, palms open and out. Weaponless, helpless, silent- but not dead yet, which is a good sign.

"Lee, move!" yells Naruto from behind. Lee ignores him and waits- for what, he doesn't know. A killing blow, a roar from the Shukaku, a bone-crushing swipe from the demon's arm- he waits for it all with open arms and an open heart, but nothing comes. He hears Naruto gasp behind him and risks a glance at Gaara- he's standing frozen, still on his tree branch.

As Lee watches, cracks start to mar the surface of the Shukaku's arm, and it crumbles to sand as Gaara's eyes flutter closed and he sways to the side, off the branch and starts to fall to the forest floor. Lee gasps and tries to get up and catch him somehow, but there's a blur of color as Temari kicks off of another tree and breaks Gaara's fall. She conjures a swirl of wind and descends lightly to the forest floor, out of Lee's sight. Lee starts to plot a course to the ground, but Sasuke struggles to his feet and carries him down instead. Temari has already started walking off through the forest, Gaara's arm draped over her shoulders.

"Wait!" calls Lee. Temari turns to look at him.

"What do you want?" she sighs.

"Where are you going?" counters Lee. Temari shrugs defeatedly.

"To find Kankurō, I guess, and then back to my village," she says.

"You don't have to," says Lee on a whim. Temari looks at him like he's crazy.

"Are you kidding?" she snaps. "Where else would we go?"

"Lee, don't," warns Sasuke, but Lee ignores him.

"Come back with us," he offers. Temari snorts incredulously.

"Your village wouldn't just take us in like that," she says, already turning to leave again. "Not after everything that's happened."

"You're wrong," argues Lee.

"Come on, Temari," agrees Naruto, dropping from the trees behind Lee and Sasuke. "You all need to rest before trying to walk all the way back to the Land of Wind, anyway." Temari pauses, conflicted, and then walks back towards Lee and the others.

"Fine," she says, "but we should wait until the battle subsides."

"Okay," says Naruto, for once agreeing not to fight. They set off through the forest together, the only sound that of their footsteps and Gaara's feet dragging on the ground.

 

The hospital staff don't ask too many questions, thankfully, but they do have to share rooms since the building is so overcrowded. Lee sits by the window as Temari helps the nurses tend to Gaara and Kankurō, both of whom are beaten, drained, and unconscious.

"Hey, Temari," says Lee when she finishes and drops into a chair beside him.

"Yeah?" she prompts, closing her eyes and folding her hands in her lap.

"Thanks," Lee says. Temari opens her eyes and sits up straight in surprise.

"What for?" she asks, blinking at him. "I was trying to kill your friends just a moment before."

"Well, you didn't have to have a change of heart, but here you are," Lee points out. Temari smiles at him and closes her eyes again, leaning back in her chair.

"Well, you're welcome, then," she says. "And thank you, too. For saving Gaara, I mean. I still can't believe he calmed down for you."

"It was a dumb idea," admits Lee, "but I'm glad it worked." He pauses for a second, and then adds, "I hope you three can stay here for a while." There's silence for a few moments, both Temari and Lee starting to drift off from exhaustion, but Temari suddenly jolts back into consciousness with a muttered curse.

"I almost forgot," she says. "One of us has to stay awake and watch Gaara."

"What? Why?" asks Lee.

"If he sleeps too deeply, the Shukaku could possess his body," explains Temari. "That's why he's so exhausted and unstable all the time."

"Oh," says Lee. That would explain a lot, really. "I'll stay up first, then," he offers.

"Thank you," says Temari, surprised. "That's nice of you." Lee grins through his tiredness and sits up straight so he can stay awake.

"It's no trouble," he assures Temari. "Get some rest." She nods and shifts into a more comfortable position, and before long, she's asleep. Lee leans forwards to prop his chin on his hand and lets his gaze linger on Gaara's face. The sun has started to fade from the sky outside, and the dim light from the hospital corridor casts stripes across the room.

Lee wonders if the Sand ninjas care enough to come back and take Gaara and his siblings from the Leaf Village. Probably not, but if anything, they'll come back because they need Gaara's power. It makes Lee sick to think that not a single person from the Sand Village ever cared about Gaara as a person- but actually, that might not be quite right. Lee turns to look at Temari, curled up in her chair, and Kankurō, still unconscious in the hospital bed. He doesn't know about Kankurō, but Temari at the very least values her siblings above most other people. Her interactions with Gaara are mostly governed by fear, but maybe that can change.

Lee is roused from his thoughts by the shuffling of blankets as Gaara starts to move ever so slightly- he doesn't know what it is, but something seems wrong, so Lee pushes himself up from his chair and shakes Gaara, hard.

Gaara jolts upright, panting, sand already starting to collect in the air, but his eyes meet Lee's and he relaxes, letting his breathing fall into a proper rhythm. Lee watches as Gaara takes in his surroundings, gaze flickering from Temari to Kankurō and back to Lee.

"We're still in the Leaf Village," he observes. Lee nods.

"I don't think it's a good idea to try and travel back to the Sand Village in the state you two are in," explains Lee, referring to Kankurō. Gaara doesn't try to argue, just turns and curls up on his side, eyes fixed on the wall next to Lee.

"Try to get some more sleep," suggests Lee.

"It's not safe," says Gaara flatly.

"It worked just now," Lee shoots back. Gaara gives him a strange look.

"Who told you about it?" he asks.

"Temari did," Lee admits. "She didn't mean any harm by it," he adds when Gaara's gaze snaps to where Temari is fast asleep in her chair. There's silence for a moment, and Lee sighs.

"You know, she actually does care about you," he says. Gaara doesn't reply, so Lee continues, "she's your sister. She wants to keep you safe, I think, but..." he trails off.

"But she's scared of me," says Gaara, his voice both quiet and loud in the stillness of the hospital room. "I know. Everyone is."

"I'm not," says Lee.

"And by all rights you should be dead right now because of it," counters Gaara.

"No," says Lee. "I'm alive because of it." There's a pause before Gaara speaks again.

"Naruto... he's the same as me, isn't he?" Gaara asks.

"Yeah," says Lee. "But also... different. He isn't alone anymore." Another pause, and then Lee says softly, "and neither are you." He looks over to grin at Gaara, who manages a small smile in return.

"I'll wake you if anything happens," Lee assures him. "Now, sleep."

This time, he doesn't argue.

~~~

Kakashi is only mildly surprised to see Gaara when he visits the next morning. He stops in the door, takes it in, and shrugs- never one to be shocked by anything. Lee is asleep on the floor, and the girl- what was her name? Temari? Is watching Gaara sleep with her chin in her hand. She looks up when Kakashi enters the room, but doesn't say anything.

"Good morning," says Kakashi. She nods in greeting, but stays silent. Kakashi sighs.

"You can talk, you know," he says. She glares at him.

"What if I don't want to?" She mouths, just to be difficult.

"Then don't," agrees Kakashi. "But the option remains open, if you change your mind." She gives a nod of acknowledgement and goes back to watching her brother.

About twenty-three minutes pass without incident, but then Gaara twitches once, twice, and Temari is suddenly shaking him awake, to Kakashi's not-quite-surprise. Gaara shoves Temari away from him and she flinches, her arms instinctively coming up to protect her chest and head. Gaara freezes, his eyes darting around the room and landing on Kakashi before flickering back to Temari's face. Her eyes are still wide, still fearful, and Kakashi really is surprised when Gaara slumps forward and breathes out a barely audible "sorry."

Judging by her expression, Temari is surprised as well.

"Don't mention it," she says after a couple seconds of silence. Kakashi suppresses a smile behind his mask. Something in Gaara had obviously changed since Kakashi had seen him last, and Kakashi is willing to bet it had something to do with Lee.

Speaking of, Guy rushes into the room, looking frantically for his dear student. He opens his mouth, probably to yell something, but Temari shushes him impatiently.

"Be quiet, people are sleeping," she says. "You're looking for Lee, right? He's just over there." She points to where Lee is curled up on the ground next to Gaara's bed, and Guy gasps.

"What did you do to him?!" he stage-whispers. Temari sighs exasperatedly.

"Nothing," she reassures Guy. "He stayed up all night, leave him alone."

"Stayed up all night?" questions Kakashi. "I would have thought he'd be tired after yesterday."

"He was," agrees Temari, "but someone had to watch Gaara first, and he volunteered." Kakashi nods, satisfied with her answer. Of course Lee had volunteered. He's so vulnerable, so insignificant compared to the other ninjas, especially with his injuries, but he pours his heart into everything he does. Kakashi looks at him, fast asleep on the floor of the hospital room, and hopes that even if he never gets to be a Shinobi, he finds something to be passionate about.

~~~

To Gaara, the day after the battle feels like waking up in a different world. Sure, Temari shook him awake, which isn't exactly new, but there are people in the room other than his siblings, which is... strange. A little bit disconcerting, really, but not as unpleasant as he had expected it to be.

Gaara stays silent for a while, watching and listening to the conversations swirling around him. Temari drags her chair closer to Gaara's bed and sits with her elbow resting on top of the sheets instead of staying away like she usually does. There's a little jolt of panic in Gaara's chest every few minutes as he takes an inventory of the people in the room and realizes he can't see Lee, but he reminds himself that Lee is safe, and nearby, and that for once there isn't anything major to worry about.

It's a bit of a shock when Gaara realizes how relaxed he actually is. There's no hyper-awareness of the movements of everyone around him, no Shukaku growling in his head, no low hum of wariness and fear coloring his thoughts and actions. He feels awake for once, stable and in control.

It's a nice feeling, really, but Gaara knows he can't just stay in bed all day. He reluctantly pushes back the covers and tries to stand up, but his legs immediately buckle and Temari picks him up again, sighing.

"You completely drained yourself yesterday trying to stop the Shukaku from killing Lee," she explains. "Don't overdo it, okay?" Right on cue, there's a shuffling sound from the foot of the bed and Lee hauls himself to his feet, wobbling a bit as he gets his crutch securely under his arm.

"Good morning," he says, grinning at Gaara and Temari. "You're awake for real this time." He greets Kakashi and then Guy, who hugs him and tells him how worried he was. Gaara watches and wonders if that's what it's like to have a real family- he hopes that one day he'll get to find out.

 

In the days that follow, the Leaf Village starts to recover from the battle. Gaara leaves the hospital and wanders for a while until he runs into Guy, who is busy helping to fix the wall. Gaara stands and watches him for several minutes until he finally builds up the nerve to speak.

"Can I help?" he asks. Guy yelps in surprise and nearly falls from the scaffolding, but steadies himself so he can give Gaara one of those weirdly sparkly grins he always seems to have on his face.

"Sure!!" he says. Gaara winces internally. Guy seems to have no inside voice. He's nice, though, according to Lee.

Gaara helps repair the wall, listening to Guy's amiable chatter as they work. A couple other people walk over and join in, and the repairs settle into a comfortable rhythm, interspersed with laughter and conversation.

This, Gaara figures, is the Leaf Village- a family, close and loving. It's different than the Sand Village, and definitely not in a bad way.

"Oh! Uh- Gaara, was it? Is that you?" says a voice from the ground. Gaara descends on a mass of sand, landing eye-to-eye with the pink-haired girl, Sakura. He vividly recalls slamming her into a tree, and internally winces again.

"I'm sorry about pinning you to that tree," he says before Sakura can start a different conversation. She pauses for a second in shock, then smiles.

"It's okay," she says. "My ribs will be fine, at any rate. Are you helping Guy repair the wall?"

"Yeah," says Gaara. It strikes him that he hasn't talked this much in one day for as long as he can remember. "Oh, um, Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Is Kankurō out of the hospital yet?" asks Gaara. It's been nagging him ever since he woke up- the way his siblings always avoided his company and only reluctantly went with him on missions. Lee had explained that it probably wouldn't be like that forever, that even their relationships could be fixed.

One thing Gaara likes about Lee is how full of hope he is. Hope for the future, for the village, and hope for Gaara. It's infectious, and endearing, and it makes Gaara want to try and live up to that hope, for no reason other than that Lee thinks it's possible- that Lee believes in him.

The more Gaara starts to trust Lee, the more he thinks he might even be starting to believe in himself.

 

Gaara bids Guy farewell at the end of the day and returns to the hospital, where he runs into Lee on his way to find Kankurō. Lee is on his way back upstairs as well, his face flushed with exertion and beaded with sweat.

"What happened to you?" asks Gaara, alarmed.

"Rehabilitation," says Lee cheerfully. "I have it every day, and I missed yesterday, so I had to practice double time today. There's no excuse for me to be skipping out on training if I ever want to get better and become a Shinobi."

"Oh," says Gaara, unable to come up with a more eloquent response. He did this- he took Lee off the path to becoming a fully fledged Ninja, and Lee... doesn't really seem to be paying attention to the fact that he's talking about healing with the very person who wounded him in the first place. It's another thing Gaara likes about him- he always looks to the future instead of lingering in the past- but sometimes it hurts to see Lee running himself into the ground trying to fix something that can't be repaired.

"I'll be okay," says Lee, to nobody in particular. "I'll get better."

He lets Gaara support him as they walk up the stairs and back to their room.

 

"Gaara?" says Kankurō in surprise. "Why are you here? Temari says you were officially cleared to leave the hospital."

"I'm checking on you," says Gaara uncomfortably. "You were unconscious for days." Kankurō is silent for a second, like he's working through his next words, but eventually he just settles on a confused "okay, thanks" and leaves it at that. Gaara turns to smile at Lee- he was right. Things can change, and things can be fixed.

~~~

"He's really changed, hasn't he?" muses Temari as she and Kankurō watch Gaara leave the hospital with Lee the next day, probably to help repair the village again.

"Yeah," agrees Kankurō. "It kind of freaked me out, to be honest. Do you think it's for real?" Temari thinks about that for a moment. She'd already considered the possibility of Gaara faking a change of heart for some reason, and dismissed the theory.

"Well, I can't fathom why he'd fake it," Temari says. "It seems like he's really trying, anyway. Also..."

"Also what?" prods Kankurō.

"I think that boy Lee has something to do with it," confides Temari. "He spends a lot of time with Gaara, just talking to him."

"Isn't that the kid that Gaara beat in the Chunin Exams?!" says Kankurō in surprise. "I heard he was really badly injured, too."

"That's him," confirms Temari. "His mentor told me he can't even be a Ninja anymore because of Gaara, but he doesn't seem like he's holding any grudges."

"It could be an act," says Kankurō dubiously.

"He's a very transparent person, I think," Temari disagrees. "And if I'm reading him wrong, he's an amazing actor." Kankurō shrugs and sighs.

"Well, as long as they don't kill each other," he says lightly, "it's all fine with me."

~~~

Sasuke is the most reluctant to accept Gaara into the village, but he eventually agrees.

"You said you were like me," he explains when Gaara asks what changed his mind. "Full of hate and the desire to kill." He pauses like he's remembering something, then smirks and continues. "I can't just let you outmatch me like that, anyway. If you can let your hate go, then so can I." 

Gaara almost laughs out loud at that- Naruto had told him a few days ago about how he'd never guessed how happiness would feel before he met his friends, and Gaara is starting to understand what he meant by that.

The Leaf Village, it turns out, is full of friends. A growing number of people greet Gaara in the streets when they pass, rather than running away or glaring at him.

"It's because of Naruto, I think," says Lee happily when Gaara mentions it. "Everyone knows him, and they know he has a demon too, but he's not that scary. Also, um, he's been telling everyone about you, I think." Gaara is not surprised by that. At all. Naruto is full of fire and obstinate goodness the way Lee is overflowing with passion and hope- once he sets a goal, he throws himself at it over and over, whether it's a battle, or an exam, or just someone he wants to care about.

Naruto, supposes Gaara, is a friend as well. But his best friend, the person he's decided he would give up everything for, is Lee. He listens and watches as Lee cheerfully sings the praises of everyone in the village, expressing his hope that Gaara can stay and meet all of them someday.

"But of course, you're pretty cool too," says Lee once he finishes talking about Neji. "I think you're stronger than a lot of them. Maybe not Naruto, but..."

"I'm glad I'm not stronger than Naruto," admits Gaara.

"Why?" asks Lee.

"He's a better person than I am," Gaara explains, "so it's good that he's stronger, too."

"I think you're a good person," says Lee, sounding vaguely indignant that Gaara would insult himself like that. "Some people just never realized it."

"Yep," says a voice from behind them. Gaara whirls around to see Kankurō sitting in a tree, smiling.

"Were you there the whole time?" asks Gaara, horrified.

"Nah," says Kankurō. "Temari just ran off with that shadow guy, so I figured I'd check on you two instead." He vaults down out of the tree and lands next to Lee, who greets him enthusiastically.

Gaara steps back and listens to them discuss the battle and the village and their friends, new and old- he's content to stay out of the conversation and just let the voices of his brother and his best friend wash over him like the gentle thrumming of the tide. Gentle, for sure- Lee and Kankurō's conversation blurs into the soft hum of speech, interspersed occasionally with the bright peals of Lee's delighted laughter. That combined with the warm air and the smell of leaves makes Gaara feel like he's floating, weightless and serene. It feels like freedom.

 

"Can I tell you something?" asks Gaara that night as he and Lee lay outside in the grass, watching the stars twinkle overhead.

"Yeah, of course," says Lee.

"For a long time, I'd never felt pain," Gaara begins. "The sand protected me from any physical harm. So I asked someone what it felt like."

"And?"

"They said it was... I think it was 'the feeling of not being able to bear it,'" explains Gaara, his eyes fixed on the velvet sky with its silent, sparkling pinpricks of light.  
"I'd felt that way my whole life, but I didn't know it was pain," he continues. "And he- the person I asked- he said that what I was feeling, a wound of the heart, was the hardest to heal. That there was only one way to do that."

"What was it?" asks Lee, curious.

"Love," says Gaara simply. "But I didn't have any just then, so I just kept on hurting, and I started to hate the world for it."

"Do you have love now?" asks Lee, hushed and serious under the weight of starlight and shadows.

"I think so," says Gaara after a pause. "You said Temari and Kankurō cared about me, right?"

"Yeah," agrees Lee. "I care about you. Naruto cares about you. I think Sakura likes you, and although it's hard to tell, Sasuke might even consider you a friend."

"So it hurts a lot less," concludes Gaara. "He said that sometimes wounds like this never go away, but I think, or I hope, that maybe mine will."

"I hope so too," says Lee.

~~~

Kakashi is wandering the edges of the Leaf Village, his nose in a book as usual, when he notices a familiar figure approaching from the woods.

"Baki," he says, closing his book and scanning the surroundings to make sure there aren't any other Sand Ninja lying in wait. There aren't- it's just Baki, looking travel-worn and a bit worried.

"Where are my students?" he growls.

"What do you want with them?" counters Kakashi.

"I'm taking them back to Suna," says Baki. "They never arrived home after the battle, so I assume they are here. What have you done with them?"

"I haven't harmed your students in any way," Kakashi reassures him, taking out his book again, "but if your intention is to take them immediately, I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" asks Baki, his visible eye narrowing in suspicion.

"They're happy," says Kakashi calmly, turning his page. "Don't take that away from them." Baki sighs.

"Where are they?" he repeats.

"I'm not sure," admits Kakashi. "They're somewhere around here, though. I think Temari is at Sakura's house- no, wait, or was it Ino's? Can't remember, sorry. You can go look for them, I guess." Baki lets out a frustrated huff of breath and turns to push past Kakashi and into the village.

"You're no use," he mutters. "I'll have to find them on my own."

"Wait," calls Kakashi when Baki is several paces away. He stops and looks back.

"We should go and get lunch," Kakashi suggests. "You've traveled all this way, and there's really no reason to rush. Come on, I know a good place." Baki reluctantly follows Kakashi into the heart of the village, where they stop at the ramen stall. To their surprise- well, maybe Baki's surprise, there are already people there.

"Kakashi-sensei!" yells Naruto, swallowing the last of his noodles and jumping out of his seat. Next to him, Lee and Gaara turn to see what the commotion is about, and there's a clatter as Gaara drops his chopsticks in shock. Lee frowns.

"Have you come to take them away?" he asks Baki, getting out of his seat and standing between Baki and Gaara.

"He did," says Kakashi cheerfully, "but now he's here to eat ramen and have a good time."

"That's what we were just doing," announces Naruto.

"That's good," says Kakashi, beckoning for Baki to sit down, which he does. "How are the three of you today?"

"Great!" says Naruto, grinning.

"Very well," says Lee.

"Well," agrees Gaara. Kakashi gives Baki an I-told-you-so look and points him towards the menu.

"I'll pay," he says. Baki doesn't argue.

 

"You know, they really are happy," muses Kakashi after the kids finish eating and run off to who-knows-where to have fun, leaving him and Baki alone.

"I see," says Baki, his eyes trained on the spot that Gaara had occupied just minutes before. "I've never seen Gaara smile or talk to anyone like that, but he was just having a totally normal conversation with that other kid." Kakashi nods, something like pride glittering in his eye.

"He's changed a lot," he agrees. "I didn't really know him before, but... Those two boys, Naruto and Lee, they really have a way of bringing out the best in others."  
"Really?" asks Baki, curious. "Has it happened before?" Kakashi nods again.

"There isn't a person in Konoha who hasn't been affected by them," he says fondly. "Myself included." Baki goes back to his ramen, considering Kakashi's words. If what he says is true, maybe it would be for the best to let the siblings remain in the Leaf Village for the time being.

"Did you know where Temari and Kankurō are?" Baki asks, pushing away his empty bowl and standing up.

"No, but I can find them," says Kakashi, paying the ramen vendor and beckoning for Baki to follow him into the streets.

It doesn't take long for them to find Temari, dragging Shikamaru into a sweet shop by the wrist as Ino and Sakura laugh and cheer her on.

"Come on, I know what foods you like," says Temari, grinning.

"What? No, who told you?" complains Shikamaru.

"Ino is on your team, dummy," says Temari. "Now, come on, and I'll buy you something good." Shikamaru lets out a half-hearted protest about how a girl shouldn't be treating him to anything before he gets tugged into the shop and the door closes with a cheery peal of bells. Baki and Kakashi stand there for a while, watching Ino and Sakura giggling to each other as they watch from the shop window, before Baki turns to leave.

"I've seen enough," he says. "That's exactly like Temari, through and through."

"Well," says Kakashi with a shrug, "it's good to see Ino and Sakura getting along with her. Knowing them, the three girls together will be an absolute terror on the boys." Baki murmurs his assent, and they set off to find Kankurō.

He's in the Academy schoolyard, surrounded by children, which doesn't seem like a good idea from Baki's perspective. He knows for a fact that Kankurō doesn't like children, but he seems to be doing alright. As he approaches, Kakashi hears Kankurō enthusiastically narrating some sort of story about his puppets as they clash in the middle of the crowd of children, drawing oohs and aahs from the audience.

"...But Crow reached into his chest and ripped out his heart!" yells Kankurō as the two adults draw near, plunging the spike-tipped hand of one of his puppets into the other's body. One of the children gasps loudly, and another screams, hiding their face.

"Aw, man, now she's crying," Kankurō mutters to himself, then sighs and kneels before one of the children, awkwardly trying to comfort her.

"Hey, he's not dead, he's just a puppet," he says, looking around for assistance and staring in shock when his gaze lands on Baki.

"Oh, hi," says Kankurō in surprise.

"Stop scaring those children," says Baki. Kankurō huffs and rolls his eyes, collecting his puppets and reassigning their body parts to the correct places.

"They're scared of your face, not my puppets," he mutters under his breath. "Are you here to take us back to Suna?" Baki looks at Kakashi, who shrugs and pulls out his book again. Useless.

"Not unless you want to go back," says Baki. Kankurō stares at him for a while in shock.

"I- I'm sorry, what?" he says. "You mean we could stay here?"

"It's not my job to decide what to do with your lives," says Baki. "Besides, you three seem... happy." The expression of disbelief on Kankurō's face only intensifies.

"Happy," he says flatly. "You'd let us stay here just because we're happy?" Baki looks awkwardly at Kakashi for help, but Kakashi, that little shit, pretends not to notice.

"Well, has Gaara killed anyone while you've been here?" asks Baki.

"Excluding the battle, I guess not," admits Kankurō.

"Okay," says Baki pointedly. "So that's kind of important." Kankurō shrugs and turns away.

"Alright," he says, still a bit dubiously. "Fine by me." Baki takes another glance at Kakashi, who still has his gaze carefully trained on his book.

"You're smiling, aren't you," says Baki suspiciously. Kakashi ignores him, but his visible eye sparkles with laughter. Baki sighs, not sure whether to be charmed or put out by that enigma of a man. They stand in silence for a while, and then Baki wanders back into the village center to find out if his students would rather stay or go home. Asking is more of a formality at this point, in his opinion- he already has his answer, and it's the smile on Gaara's face as he and Lee share a bowl of ramen, less than an inch of empty space between their shoulders. It's Kankurō's overzealous puppet show and Temari's grip on Shikamaru's wrist- it's an answer that speaks louder than any words, and one that Baki can't ignore. But, he figures, it can't do any harm to ask.

~~~

"Are you staying?" Sakura asks Temari anxiously as she returns from a conversation with Baki.

"I think so," says Temari. "We don't know what Gaara thinks yet, but Kankurō and I are fine with whatever he chooses." She pauses for a moment, then adds "but I do kind of want to stay here for a while, if not forever."

"I bet Shikamaru wants you to stay as well," says Ino with a wicked grin.

"Oh, shut up," mutters Temari, her cheeks flushing red.

"You didn't deny it," points out Sakura, suppressing a smile.

"Well, how would I know what he wants?" asks Temari, avoiding Sakura and Ino's gazes. "Come on, I want to see if Baki asked Gaara yet." She gets up and walks off, and Ino and Sakura exchange knowing glances behind her back, sharing a camaraderie that they thought had shattered over Sasuke. Neither of them acknowledge it out loud, but they read each other's eyes like they've always done.

"Are you coming or not?" calls Temari, several paces away.

"Coming," reply Sakura and Ino in unison. They smile at each other and follow Temari down the road, friendship rekindling in the evening sun.

 

"Gaara?" shouts Temari, catching sight of him and Lee standing on the bridge, watching fish sparkle in the river. Lee looks up and waves, and Temari breaks into a gentle run towards them.

"Did Baki talk to you?" asks Temari as she draws near. Gaara nods.

"I said I wanted to stay," he says. "Is that okay with you and Kankurō?" Temari is thrown off balance for a moment by his concern, but she shoves it down and nods.

"Okay," she says, shooting a grin at Sakura and Ino, who smile back and high five each other.

"Well," continues Temari, "you two have a nice night." She waves at Lee and Gaara and skips off with Sakura and Ino, settling into their group like she's always belonged there. She remembers the way Gaara looks at Lee, and the way Kankurō and Shikamaru seem to get along, and wonders if they really do belong in the Leaf Village. Temari knows that one day they'll have to leave, but she doesn't feel bad at all for hoping that that day never comes.

~~~

Baki leaves the Leaf Village the next day with a promise to visit the siblings frequently. To his surprise and happiness, all three of them awkwardly hug him goodbye and express their hope that he visits soon- Kakashi was right. They've changed.

Gaara watches Baki leave with a bittersweet feeling in his chest- a slight tugging sensation rather than the sharp pain of shattered glass. It's new, a mixture of hurt and happiness, and Gaara wants to savor every minute of it. Before long, Baki's figure vanishes among the trees, and Lee takes Gaara's hand as they walk side by side to Lee's house. Temari nudges Gaara with her shoulder affectionately before chasing after Shikamaru, and Kankurō ruffles Gaara's hair as he walks off to do who knows what. Even after everyone has split up and only Lee and Gaara remain walking together, Gaara has never felt so much like part of a real family. The streets are quiet, the day is warm, and Lee's hand anchors Gaara in the sweet reality of the Leaf Village- it's a shock to realize, but Gaara isn't alone anymore, not by a long shot.

Gaara wonders, sometimes, if Yashamaru can see him now. Ever since Yashamaru's death, Gaara had lived with the pain of being all alone, and the weight of not knowing if the pain would ever go away- but now, there's no doubt in his mind that it will.  
A wound of the heart hurts more than any other, but with time- and love- even that will heal.

~end~

**Author's Note:**

> comments make me so happy you have no idea aaaa


End file.
